Help Selecting Puppy Food

[Robin]

I have an 8 week old standard F1 goldendoodle named Stella.  The breeder was feeding puppy chow and I will not keep her on that.  I know I need to leave her on it for two weeks after bringing her home, but I want to get a head start on picking the best food for Stella.  I have done a bit of research and am looking for a little advice on which food to try first.  As much as I think Orijen is a wonderful food, it is a bit out of my price range (I'm also feeding 6 kids ; ).  However, I do want to feed Stella the healthiest food we can afford. 

I've done the cost per day calculations and checked prices on chewy.com as well as consulted the recommended food list.  Based on my research, I'm considering feeding her Canidae, Fromm, or Wellness puppy foods.  Are any of these foods better than the others?  Which one would you recommend starting with?  Surprisingly, the Fromm is the cheapest (Gold puppy food) but it is not available locally.  I would have to order it off of the internet.  Both the Canidae and the Wellness are available right near my house. 

Also, how long should I spend transitioning her to the new food?  I would like to get her off of the puppy chow as quick as possible, but I don't want to upset her tummy.  I also wanted to find out what kinds of treats/bones you all recommend.

Thank you for all of your help!

Robin

[Abigail *George & Juno*]

I don't have a lot to offer on the food other than it shouldn't take more than a week to transition her. I'm sure Karen or some other regulars will chime in on your quality question.

Also, as far as treats...we have a recommended treat list, but any treats made by an approved food brand is good too. :)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Just to be sure, when you did your cost per day calculations, did you look at the feeding guidelines for each food? I just compared the feeding guidelines for Orijen Puppy and Wellness Complete Health Puppy (their lowest priced line) and it looks to me like you have to feed 50% more of the Wellness food. I had to switch my adult dog from Orijen to an LID Wellness formula a few years back and the cost is actually higher due to having to feed so much more.

Of the three brands you mentioned, Fromm probably has the highest quality. That would be my first choice of the three you mentioned, although if you want a grain-free puppy food, I'd go with Wellness Core Puppy, as Fromm doesn't make a grain-free formula for puppies.

Abigail is correct, you should not take more than a week to transition, and 4 to 5 days would be best. You are going to have to calculate the feeding amounts for each food separately and then replace one quarter of a meal's worth of the Purina with one quarter of a meal's worth of the new food. (You can't just replace an equal amount with an equal amount, as the calorie content may be different.) Do that for a day or two, then go to half a meal's worth of each food for a day or two, then 3/4 new 1/4 old and then 100% new. If at any point the puppy tries to pick out only the new food, I'd go ahead and switch cold turkey. 

But be absolutely sure to wait two weeks before switching. 

And we do have a recommended treat list, as Abigail also mentioned. But you don't want to introduce any new foods, even treats, until after you have transitioned her to the new food. The cardinal rule is that you make only one change at a time. 

[Paul Schumacher]

For what it's worth, we fed Zoe Wellness Core Puppy until she was about a year and switched to the original Wellness Core adult formula and she's done great on both.  I've also done the calculations and the Wellness Core line is very economical for the quality.  

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

We feed Lucy Fromm's Grain Free Game Bird (made for ALL LIFE STAGES, including puppies) and she's done great on it. I can't find it locally either, but go through Chewy.com and have it automatically delivered every 5 weeks. It takes only 2-3 days to arrive once it's been shipped from the warehouse, which is super fast. Prices can't be beat, either (and always free shipping on regularly scheduled deliveries).